Safety razor



Jan. 9, 1934. J w ASHWQRTH 1,942,911

SAFETY RAZOR Filed Dec. 1, 1930 INVENTOR.

A TTORNE Y.

Patented Jan. 9, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT orr ca 1,942,911 7 SAFETY RAZOR.

Application December 1, 1930. a Serial No. 499,258 4 Claims. (01. 30. 12)

This invention relates to safety razors and is directed more particularly to certain improvements in construction, whereby a .two edged flexible blade is supported in such a way as to operate with maximum efficiency under all conditions. The invention has to do especially with the clamping of the blade in position to produce various cutting angles or adjustments with respect more particularly to the guard and to effeet for any particular clamping operation a plurality of such adjustments.

Thus, in the preferred form of the invention, when the blade is clamped in position one edge of the blade will be adjusted differently from the other edge thereof so that one will give a closer shave than the other. The guard and clamping plates are, however, preferably so constructed that they may be reversed with respect to one another, so as to produce two totally different adjustments, whereby the razor of this invention is susceptible throughout diiierent relations of the parts to four distinct adjustments of the blade with reference to the guard. When a razor is thus constructed, it is capable of adjustment to suit almost any type of beard so that a good" close shave is insured for any particular user.

An important advantage of this invention'resides in the fact that the various adjustments to which I have referred are accomplished by definite predetermined relations between the guard and the clamping plate which are for all adjustments clamped tightly with respect to the blade,

so as to steady the blade against wibration during shaving in contradistinctionto prior practice wherein various adjustments were obtained by clamping the blade withdiiferent degrees of tightness to efiect different adjustments, This prior practice has not proven satisfactory for the reason that unless the blade clamped tight, the adjusting devices are apt to work loose and if they work loose injury to the person using the razor is apt to occur. Furthermore unless the blade is clamped tightly in position at all times, vibration thereof will result with consequent ununiform shaving and danger of cutting the face."

With'the foregoing considerations in mind, the invention consists in the improved construction hereinafter explained in detail and set forth in Features of the invention, other than those specified, will be apparent from the hereinafter detailed description and claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

The accompanying drawing illustrates difierent practicalembodiments of the invention, but

ing the present invention.

alternate form of guard.

the construction therein shown is to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

I Figure 1 is a side elevation of a razor embodyi 80 Figure 2 isa plan view of the guard shown in Figure 1. a

Figure 3 is a central transverse section of a razor also embodying the invention, but showing a modified form of construction.

Figure 4 is a transverse section of a razor showing a further modified form of the invention.

Figure 5 is an underneath plan view of the clamping plate shown in Figure 1.

Figure 6 shows a blade of the kind shown in Figure 1.

Figure 7 is an underneath plan view-of an Figure 8 shows a modified form of blade.

Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, 1 designates the clamping plate, 2 the guard, and 3 the blade, such for example, as is illustrated in Fig. 6. The clamping plate 1 is provided with positioning .studs 4, which are adapted to register with and pass through cut-outs 5 in the guard 2. Said clamping plate is also provided with a' central Y perforation which is threaded to receive a clamping screw 6. This screw is adapted to be passed through both perforations to clamp the plate and guard together with the blade 3 between them and to also hold in position the foot 7 of the handle 8 as will hereinafterbe more fully explained. 4

The guard 1 is provided at its under side with a longitudinally extending substantially centrally located ledge or abutment 9,:the longitudinal edges of which are designated 10 and 11. The face 12 of said ledge 9 may be fiat or plane, but itis preferably curved on the arc of a circle and the longitudinal edges 13 and 14 of the guard are formed so as to be tangent with said arc,-so that when the blade is clamped into conformity with the surface 12, said blade will also bear against the plate 1 at the edges 13 and'14, so as to effectually steady the blade. The blade is forced into conformity with the surface 12 by means of a ledge or abutment 15'which extends longitudinally of the guard 2, but this ledge or abutment is of less width in Fig. 1 than the abutment 9. Furthermore, the edge 16 of abutment 15 is spaced a distance a from the medial line of the razor which is less than the distance b which the edge 17 is spaced from said line.

It is also to be noted that the distance 0 between the medial line and the edge 11 is less than the distance d between said line and the edge 10. Furthermore, the edge 11 may be higher or lower than the edge 10, while the edge 17 may be higher or lower than the edge 16. Also note that the lateral halves of the guard are of different shapes, so as to allow greater clearance between the edge of the blade and the lateral half 18 of the guard and between the lateral half 19 and the corresponding edge of the blade. This lateral half 19 of the guard is stepped down as shown at 20 to produce an opening beneath the cutting edge of the blade so that lather, etc.

may escape without clogging. The part of the lateral half 19 .directly adjacent the step 20 may By forming the distances at, b, c and d differ-- ently as described, it will be noted that when the parts are in position as shown in Figure 1, the left hand side of the razor will cut with a different adjustment than the right hand side,

thereby giving two distinct adjustments or types of cutting.

It will be noted, however, that by the construction illustrated, the guard may be turned end for end, so that the section 18 will come at the right and the section 19 at the left in which event two additional totally different shaving adjustments are provided at the respective edges of the blade. The structure shown in Fig. 1 is therefore susceptible to four distinct shaving adjustments by mere reversal of either the guard or clamping plate. 1

It will be noted that in Fig. 1 the upper or exposed face of the clamping plate is rounded on an even curve for the greater portion of its width, but near one edge it is preferably hollow ground as shown at 21 to provide for a closer shave at its edge.

In Fig. 3 of the drawing, the clamping plate 100 is substantially the same as the clamping plate of Fig. 1 with the exception that the abutment 109 is much narrower than the abutment 9, although the distance 0 is also less than the distance d in Fig. 3. With respect to the guard of Fig. 3, the distance D is equal to the distance d, but'the distance a is greater than the distance 0 and equal to the distance D. Furthermore, the under face 112 of the ledge 109 is flat or plane as is the upper face of the ledge 115 of the guard. Thus when the blade is clamped between the faces 112 and 115, it is flattened while the lateral portions of the blade are forced downwardly by the edges 113 and 114 to partake of the curvilinear section s hown in this figure. sure which forces the blade into the curved form is thus applied by the clamping plate at its edges 113 and 114 and consequently the blade will react firmly against these edges to preclude trembling or vibration of the blade duringshaving.

The structure of Fig. 3 is also like the structure of Fig. 4adapted for four distinct adjustments by reversal of the parts as hereinbefore described.

The structureof Fig. 4 bears a marked similarity to the structure of Fig. 3, with the exception that the under surface 212 of the ledge 209 is curved on the arc of a circle of which the edges 213 and 214 are tangent. Furthermore,

the edge 210 is higher than the edge 211 and The pressimilarly the edge 21''! is higher than the edge 216. The distances a, b, c, d, bear the same in Fig. 4 as in Fig. 3. It will be noted, however, that by forming the surface 212 curved in Fig. 4, the clamping of the blade in position will force it into a rather novel cross section. The left hand half of the blade in the adjustment shown will tend to follow the natural curvature of the surface 212 and contact with the edge 213, while the right hand edge of the abutment 209 will force down the blade in engagement with the fiat upper surface of the abutment 215 as shown in this figure, thereby forcing the right hand margin of the blade tightly upward against the edge 214 which reacts to hold the blade steady and against vibration during shaving.

It is notable that in all the foregoing construction, the blade is clamped firmly along two distinct lines at either side of the medial line of the blade, while in several instances there is a distinct reaction of the lateral edges of the clamping plate to bear tightly against the blade closely adjacent its cutting edge to preclude vibration as stated.

In all forms of the invention illustrated, there are four distinct adjustments of cutting which may be had by merely one reversal of the relation between the parts. The invention consists primarily in the provision of the abutments between which the blade is clamped and manipulated into the desired contour. These abutments may greatly vary in relative widths and heights of their respective edges or said edges may be of the same height without departing from this invention. The parts are adapted to be clamped together by the arrangement shown in Fig. 3. In this figure, the clamping plate and guard are both shown as perforated and the foot 7 of the handle is also shown as perforated and all of these perforations are threaded. It will be noted that the plate is threaded all the waythrough, but the guard and foot are threaded only for part of their thickness, there being a coaxial seat 22 formed in the seat. The screw 6 has a shank 23 at the base of which is a cylindrical portion 24 adapted to register with and fit into the seat 22. The outer end of the shank is threaded as shown at 25 for a distance equal to about the thickness of the clamping plate.

With this arrangement, when the parts are clamped together, the part 24 and the seat 22 will centralize the screw at its base while the screw will extend freely through the guard and be threaded into the clamping plate. When it is desired to release the blade, it may be simply screwed out of the clamping plate. This will release said plate and blade while still securing the guard and handle together. If it is, however, desired to also remove the guard, the screw may be backed off through the threads of the guard while leaving the screw attached to the handle and it can only be removed from the handle by screwing it out through the threads in the foot 7. This arrangement has been found to give very satisfactory practical results because it pre- -cludes the dropping of the parts on the floor when one or more-of them are released and it also allows sufficient lost motion between the parts when the screw is loosened to permit proper cleaning without totally dismantling the parts. This is particularly true by virtue of the cut out 26 in the guard.

According to the present invention, the handle is made adjustable about the axis of the screw 6. To permit of locking the handle in any desired adjustment, the guard is provided with holes 2'7 arranged in an annular series as shown in Fig. 2 and the foot is provided with 2. lug or projection 28 adapted to extend into one of these holes so that when the screw is tightened with the lug extending into one of the holes the handle is locked in adjustment and cannot slip during use. a

The guard has been described as having positioning studs 4. These studs may be of any suitable shape and positioned in any desired location, such as at the outer ends of the guard as illustrated in Fig. 5 or nearer the center as illustrated in Fig. 7. The advantage of the ari rangement of Fig. '7 is that any conventional double edged blade will fit this disposition of studs.

Adopting the general type of blade shown in Fig. 6 to the construction of Fig. '7, the cut outs 29 should extend from the end of the blade closer to the center thereof than they are shown in Fig. 6. The blade of Figure 6 is manifestly adapted for only the Widely spaced studs as shown in Figure 5.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A safety razor comprising a guard plate and a clamping plate with means to clamp said plates together on an interposed blade, the adjacent faces of said plates being provided with cooperating abutments having fiat parallel opposing faces elevated above the body of each plate and extending longitudinally of the plates and substantially medially disposed with respect thereto, said guard plate having castellations along its longitudinal margins beyond said abutments with the castellations along one margin stepped down from the upper surface of the plate at a distance from the adjacent edge of its abutment and the castellations of the other margin flush with the upper surface of the plate.

2. A safety razor comprising a guard plate and a clamping plate with means to clamp said plates together on an, interposed blade, the adjacent faces of said plates being provided with cooperating abutments having flat parallel opposing faces extending longitudinally of the plates and substantially medially disposed with respect thereto, the abutment of at least one of the plates extending a greater distance to one side of the medial line of said plate than to the other side.

a clamping plate with means to clamp said plates together on an interposed blade, the adjacent faces of said plates being provided with cooperating abutments having fiat parallel opposing faces extending longitudinally of the plates and substantially 1 medially disposed with respect thereto, the abutment on one of said'pla'tes being higher at one of its lateral edges than at its other lateral edge.

4. A safety razor embodying a guard plate and a clamping plate with means to clamp them together upon an interposed blade, both of said plates having longitudinally extending medial abutments for engagement with the blade and the blade engaging faces of which abutments are flat, and parallel throughout their entire widths and the abutment on the guard plate being wider than the abutment on the clamping plate.

* JOHN W. ASHWORTH. 

